1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of producing an electronic unit of a radio system automatically, an electronic unit of a radio system and an electronic component used for producing the electronic unit of the radio system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern radio technology, the production of different electronic units and components has been automated as far as possible to obtain, on one hand, savings in costs and, on the other hand, to ensure uniform quality of the properties of the produced devices. In automatic production, the decrease of the number of manual stages or their omission altogether improves the uniform quality, in which case quality variation due to manual work can be reduced in connection with soldering, for example.
The capacities used in radio technology typically cause heating of devices and components. For this reason, it is necessary to cool the components to be used effectively, in particular high-power components. This can be performed, for example, by connecting a component to a mechanical part of the electronic unit. However, also in this case, the electric connecting means of the component have to be attached to the surface of a circuit board.
In prior art solutions, the problem has been solved by mounting an electronic component in an opening provided in a circuit board, in which case the component can be attached to the mechanical part and electric connecting means can be attached to the electric connecting means provided on the surface of the circuit board. A drawback of this solution is that it cannot be implemented automatically, using e.g. SMD mounting (Surface Mounted Device, SMD) and automatic screwing, but the stages have to be performed manually, after which solder joints are made manually onto the circuit board and the equipped circuit board is attached manually by screws. The manual stages increase production costs and constitute a significant cost item in the production of large series, in particular. A further problem is that due to the manual stages, the properties of electronic units, e.g. high-frequency properties, vary. For example, when a solder joint is made manually, the amount of solder varies, which affects the high-frequency properties. The mounting accuracy of the components on the circuit board may also vary from one time to another, in which case alignment of the electric connecting means and thus the high-frequency properties also vary.